New York Giants News & Notes: Bye Week Friday Edition

Good morning fellow Giants' fans. There is not a whole lot of news relating to the Giants as they prepare for an off-day on Sunday and begin looking ahead to next Sunday's game at home against the still-winless Miami Dolphins. Thankfully, there are still games on, though I will admit that I enjoy having the Giants play and a full slate of 15 games on any given weekend. Here are some bits of Big Blue news floating around.....

Giants' Eli Manning enjoying a stellar start with fewer turnovers | NJ.com
Through the first six weeks of the season, Eli Manning has put himself on par with almost any quarterback in the NFL. He ranks among the league’s best with a 101.1 quarterback rating (third), 1,778 passing yards (fifth) and 63.8 completion percentage (ninth), and if extrapolated over the course of a season, those statistics would give him career highs. If this were to provide some deeper level of satisfaction for the even-keeled Manning, it would be understandable.

NY Giants' Victor Cruz, kicked out of UMass twice, gets act together, emerges as crowd favorite
Numbers were never going to define Victor Cruz. He was always sure of that, from the day he started learning to play football. It was never about how many passes he caught. It was how he caught them. His life would not be about statistics, although four years ago, Cruz found himself on the verge of becoming one.

I didn't know all of this about Cruz and I suspect that many of you did not, either. But this is a really interesting article. And while we can do without some of the "adventures," it sure is fun to watch this kid play.

ProFootballWeekly.com - Bar raised for Giants' Ballard, Cruz
The bye week has given the Giants a chance to do what they have needed most recently: get healthy. But it also has given people a chance to fully appreciate just how good — and unexpected — the contributions of WR Victor Cruz and TE Jake Ballard have been.

Giants' David Diehl isn't concerned with outside critics | NJ.com
The website ProFootballFocus.com, which was founded in 2009 and uses baseball-type metrics to rate football players, has Diehl ranked as one of the worst guards in the league. In its Giants-Seattle Seahawks game review, the site said Diehl had six pressures allowed and "continues to try to prove those who said he couldn’t be worse at guard wrong." The ratings, which are done by a staff of individuals who admit they’re not scouts or coaches, have helped fuel the public perception on blogs, message boards and Twitter that Diehl is off to a horrendous start.

New York Giants will get some reinforcement back on the field following their bye week. - ESPN New York
The Giants are 4-2 and hoping to get some major reinforcements back over the break that will help them down the stretch. After the first six games, ESPNNewYork.com takes a look at six Giants issues heading into the break with a closer look at the remaining schedule.

We all know how brutal the schedule is, but it's still hard to look at and I encourage you guys to stock up on antacids.

First place Giants face tough schedule following their bye | NFC East Talk
If Manning can continue to do that without reverting back to rookie-level mistakes that pop up from time to time, the Giants should be able to produce similar results for the rest of the season.

As always in the NFL, turnovers tend to decide games, and the Giants gave themselves a chance to win last Sunday by not committing any of them. That's one aspect that TC had to be extremely happy with.

Enjoy the bye week, fellas!